Saturday, September 02, 2006

Greetings from Estonia! I'm at home again, although it's been only weeks since my last trip in July consisting of wild strawberries and cloudberries. This is still not for good - that will happen in October, so this is just another short visit. My older nephew, Tomi, started school today, and as a good auntie I had to be present on this important day. Tomorrow another friend of mine is getting married in Tallinn, bringing the wedding season of 2006 to a glorious end. And last, but not least, next weekend I'll help to celebrate my paternal Granny's 85th birthday.

I know my blogging has been a wee bit slow during the last few weeks, and I apologise for that. This is because I've been travelling (will report about the wonderful wedding in Brussels last weekend as soon as I find the menu and reformat the pictures:) I have also been busy packing and shipping my stuff in Edinburgh. And as if travelling and packing weren't disrupting my blogging enough already, then our internet provider disconnected us by accident a fortnight ago and then refused to reconnect us because we were soon ending our contract anyway. Just like that. Sulk..

While I search my luggage for my notes from Brussels, I leave you with another simple pudding. Yet again it uses this exotic childhood ingredient, semolina/cream of wheat featured in my whipped semolina pudding about a month ago. This time a simple semolina porridge is baked in the oven and served with some delicious berries, giving it a beautiful lift. Humble it may be, but it was well received by my guests and I was still eager to eat some more on the following morning. As there was none left from the night before, I made a fresh batch of semolina porridge for breakfast and served it with my fake cloudberry jam. And I made semolina porridge for breakfast yet again when my friend Ruxandra came over for a visit.

Yes, that's how good it was - it made you want to eat semolina not once, not twice, but thrice.

Butter Ø 22 cm oven dish and sprinkle with semolina. Put aside.Bring the milk to the boil, keeping your eye on the saucepan and stirring regularly to make sure it won't boil over.When it's boiling, remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in semolina and salt, stirring rigorously.Put the saucepan on the hob again and heat for 4-5 minutes on a slow heat, stirring, until the porridge thickens. Remove from the heat again.Stir in the eggs, sugar and lemon zest. Pour the porridge into the prepared oven dish and bake at the lower part of a 200C oven for about 35-40 minutes, until the porridge is golden.Cool a little and serve with some vanilla custard and fresh blueberries.

Orchidea - give it a go - it's very simple and comforting, sure to warm you up once the autumn arrives in Sweden!

J - you're right - nursery-nostalgic is an accurate description of this dish! I'm back in Scotland now for the final 4 weeks, and only have few more boxes to ship back home, so things are looking slightly brighter now..

Clivia - are you sure she wouldn't fancy a snowy winter break in Estland?

Paz - I've misplaced the Brussels menu, but will try to blog about it asap!

Ximena - I'm so glad you liked Estonia, and my blog:) Sorry I wasn't able to give you any advice re: food. Next time!